People can scream all they want. You can't just blantantly rip off another software package because the piblic wants you to.

Anton: I think you are a little confused - being compatable is not the same as ripping off software. If DAZ had ripped off Poser then there would be a law suit, patent issues, copyright issues, etc. Writing a program to do the same thing that someone else's program does and making your files compatable with the other company's files is neither a rip-off, nor unethical, immoral. What is questionable is intentional incompatability. Having more than one product available that does the same thing gives the consummer a choice - which is at the heart of modern commerce. Making those programs compatable is in the best interest of the consumer since it means that to be able to exchange/share/trade work they do not have to buy the program that happens to be most popular even if they don't like it. Incompatability is only of value to someone trying to create an effective monopoly - if nobody can export or import your files and you have a significant percent of the market then you force people to switch to your software to stay compatable - it's a kind of corprate blackmail. So far from making a program that is compatable with another company's program being a bad thing or unethical it is in fact what should be done in every case possible. Oh, and btw, you do NOT need to licience a file format in many cases - it depends on how the creator of the format protected it, but the fact that D|S exists and has not been sued into oblivion tells us that if the format is protected then clearly they have a licience. I mean it isn't as if CL doesn't know about D|S or something. If there was any kind of violation it would have been addressed by now. The fact that DAZ was not shut down proves that such a violation does not exist.

So if Poser is so crappy and limiting, then why on God's green Earth are they copying it? I fail to see how STudio makes figures better???????

I believe the point that has been made here several times [and indeed you even quoted it] is that DAZ began to work on putting out D|S because it was looking like Poser might die and if Poser died, then anyone [like for example DAZ] that had a business based on creating content for Poser would die too - unless they started providing an alternative program for their content to be used in. They didn't make D|S to be better than Poser, they didn't make it switch to better rigging systems, etc, they made it so that the content which they made for Poser would still be viable if Poser dissapeared. They made it so that their fate as a company was in their hands rather than being in the hands of another company. Surely this is not hard to understand? Would you rather have a job that depended only on your skills or a job that depended on what Joe down the street is doing - would you rather get paid based on the work you do or get paid based on what Joe does? I think most people would rather have their fate in their own hands and that is what DAZ chose. Message edited on: 07/16/2005 17:08